Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Overend, Marmaduke
OVEREND, MARMADUKE (d. 1790), organist and composer, was a pupil of Dr. William Boyce. In 1760 he was organist of Isleworth, Middlesex, where he died in 1790. He was buried on 25 June (Parish Register).
Overend published: 1. ‘Epithalamium,’ for solo and chorus, with instrumental accompaniments, 1760. 2. ‘Twelve Sonatas,’ for two violins and violoncello, ‘the basses of which are correctly figured for the accompaniment on the harpsichord.’ 3. A canon for eight voices, ‘Glory be to the Father.’ 4. ‘A Brief Account of, and an Introduction to, eight Lectures in the Science of Music,’ 1781. It does not appear that the lectures were delivered, and the pamphlet contains only a method of finding musical ratios, by strings represented by straight lines or numbers. The process by which the calculations are made, and ‘the radical sources of melody and harmony explained,’ was to be developed in the course of the lectures. Dr. Boyce's manuscript treatise of composition, then in the hands of Overend, formed the basis of the system proposed.
[Grove's Dict. of Music, ii. 618, Warren's Catches, 1836; Overend's will, Registers, P.C.C. (Bishop), 45.]